Under current law, beginning September 1, 2002, a school board may not grant
a high school diploma to a pupil unless he or she passes the high school graduation
examination. Beginning July 1, 2002, a pupil may not be promoted from the fourth
to the fifth grade or from the eighth to the ninth grade unless the pupil passes the
fourth and eighth grade promotional examinations. A pupil's parent or guardian,
however, may excuse a pupil from taking any of these examinations. A pupil who is
excused must satisfy alternative criteria for promotion or graduation.
This bill imposes upon operators of Milwaukee charter schools the same
prohibitions against promotion that are imposed upon school boards. Finally, the bill
eliminates the authority of a pupil's parent or guardian to excuse the pupil from
taking the high school graduation examination.
Under current law, a school board, board of control of a cooperative educational
service agency (CESA) or a county children with disabilities education board is
eligible for special education aid if the state superintendent of public instruction is
satisfied that the special education program has been maintained according to law.
This aid is equal to a percentage of the amount expended on special education costs
in the preceding school year.
This bill eliminates the reimbursement rates for handicapped education costs
and school age parents program costs and directs that aidable costs be fully
reimbursed, subject to the availability of funds. The bill also provides that the
operator of a Milwaukee charter school described above is eligible for special
education aid, on a current school year basis, if the operator operates a special
education program and the state superintendent is satisfied that the operator has
complied with the federal Individuals With Disabilities In Education Act as though
the operator were a school board.
Under current law, a charter school may be established by, among other things,
petitioning the school board of the school district in which the charter school will be
located to enter into a contract with a person to establish and operate a charter
school. Within 30 days after receiving a charter school petition, the school board
must hold a public hearing on the petition. The MPS board must grant or deny a
petition to establish a charter school within 30 days after the public hearing. If the
MPS board denies the petition, the person seeking to establish a charter school may,
within 30 days of the denial, appeal the denial to the state superintendent of public
instruction, who must decide the appeal within 30 days after receiving it.
This bill requires all school boards to grant or deny a charter school petition
within 30 days after the public hearing and permits the person seeking to establish
a charter school to appeal a denial of a charter school petition to the state
superintendent.
Under current law, the Milwaukee charter schools described above are not
instrumentalities of MPS, and the MPS board may not employ any personnel for
these charter schools. If, however, the city of Milwaukee contracts with an individual
or group operating for profit to operate a charter school, the charter school is an
instrumentality of MPS and the MPS board must employ all personnel for the
charter school.
This bill provides that if the city of Milwaukee contracts with an individual or
group operating for profit to operate a charter school, the charter school is not an
instrumentality of MPS, and the MPS board may not employ any personnel for the
charter school.
Current law authorizes the MPS board to contract with any nonsectarian
private school located in the city to provide educational programs for pupils enrolled
in the school district. The MPS board may also close any school that it determines
is low in performance. If the MPS board closes a school or reopens a school that has
been closed, the superintendent of schools may reassign the school's staff without
regard to seniority in service. In addition, the MPS board is prohibited from
bargaining collectively with respect to: 1) the board's decision to contract with a
private nonsectarian school or private nonsectarian agency in the city to provide
educational programs to pupils, or the impact of any such decision on the wages,
hours or conditions of employment of the employes who perform those services; or 2)
the reassignment of employes who perform services for the board, with or without
regard to seniority, as the result of a decision of the board to close or reopen a school
or to contract with a person to operate a charter school or convert a school to a charter
school, or the impact of any such reassignment on the wages, hours or conditions of
employment of the employes who perform those services. This bill extends the above
provisions to cover all school boards.
This bill provides that, beginning in 2001, no public school may commence its
school term until September 1. The bill specifies that the prohibition does not
prevent a school board from holding athletic contests or practices before that date,
scheduling in-service days or work days before that date or holding school
year-round.
In the 1996-97 and 1998-99 school years, a school board having a school with
an enrollment that was at least 50% low-income in the previous school year was
permitted to enter into a five-year achievement guarantee contract with DPI on
behalf of one school in the school district (and up to ten schools in MPS) if, among
other things, in the previous school year that school had an enrollment that was at
least 30% low-income. Under these contracts the school district must reduce class
size and improve academic achievement in grades kindergarten to three in the school
or schools covered by the contract in exchange for receiving state aid.
This bill permits a school board to enter into a five-year achievement guarantee
contract beginning in the 2000-01 school year on behalf of one or more schools if,
among other things, in the previous school year a school in the school district had an
enrollment that was at least 50% low-income and each school on whose behalf the
school board contracts had an enrollment that was at least 62% low-income (80%
low-income for MPS).
Under current law, a school board may request DPI to waive school board or
school district requirements except those pertaining to, among other things, teacher
licensing. This bill permits a school board to request a waiver of the teacher licensing
requirement.
This bill prohibits the state superintendent of public instruction from renewing
a teaching license unless the person seeking renewal has received training in
educational technology.
Current law directs DPI to award a $2,000 grant in the 1999-2000 school year
to any person who is certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching
Standards (NBPTS) before July 1, 2000, and who satisfies several additional
conditions. In the 2000-01 school year, DPI must award a $2,500 grant to each
person who received a $2,000 grant, maintains his or certification by the NBPTS and
satisfies several additional conditions.
This bill eliminates all of the above dates. Under the bill, a person who becomes
certified by the NBPTS receives the initial $2,000 grant in the school year in which
he or she becomes certified. The bill also directs DPI to award the person a $2,500
grant in each of the succeeding nine years.
Under current law, referenda are required or authorized to be held by school
districts to incur debt or exceed state revenue limits, or to exceed the levy rate limit
for a school construction fund that is applicable only to MPS. Currently, these
referenda are required or authorized to be held at special elections when no offices
appear on the ballot.
This bill provides that such referenda must be held concurrently with the
spring election (held in each year) or the general election (held in each
even-numbered year), or on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November in an
odd-numbered year.
Current law directs DPI, the department of administration (DOA) and the
legislative fiscal bureau to estimate jointly the amount necessary to appropriate as
general school aid to ensure that the total amount of state aid received by all school
districts equals two-thirds of total school district revenues from state aid and
property taxes.
This bill provides that the amounts received by school districts to compensate
them for the reduction in their tax bases due to the property tax exemption for
computers is included in the calculation of school district revenues.
Under current law, the state superintendent of public instruction administers
four alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and intervention grant programs for
school districts. Current law also limits the amount the state superintendent may
award under each grant program.
This bill consolidates the alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and
intervention programs into one grant program administered by the state
superintendent and allows a school board to apply for a grant to fund any kind of
alcohol and other drug abuse prevention and intervention program. In addition, the
bill eliminates the limit on the amount of each grant that the state superintendent
may award.
This bill directs the state superintendent to award grants to school districts,
CESAs and other persons for staff development.
This bill directs the state superintendent to consult with the technology for
educational achievement in Wisconsin (TEACH) board before awarding school
technology resource grants. School technology resource grants are funded with
federal moneys and are awarded to school districts for various educational
technology purposes.
Current law authorizes the state superintendent to award a grant to a nonprofit
corporation to fund partially the costs of planning, developing and operating a youth
village program. A youth village program is a residential program that provides an
alternative education for pupils whose life outside school seriously interferes with
their educational progress and who are functioning below their grade level in basic
academic skills, are behind in academic credits or have a record of poor grades or
attendance problems. This bill eliminates the youth village grant program.
This bill directs DPI to award grants to school districts for smoking prevention
programs in grades kindergarten to eight. A grant may not exceed $10,000.
Under current law, DPI distributes general purpose revenue to head start
agencies, which provide comprehensive health, educational, nutritional, social and
other services to economically disadvantaged children and their families. This bill
changes the source of the funding for the head start program and a variety of other
early childhood education programs from general purpose revenue to moneys from
the federal temporary assistance for needy families block grant.
Under current law, an alternative school for American Indians may voluntarily
establish an American Indian language and culture education program. If the
alternative school meets certain management and accounting criteria, it is eligible
to receive $185 from DPI for each pupil who completes the fall semester in the
program of instruction. This bill increases the aid for which the alternative school
is eligible to $200 per pupil and provides that this aid is paid from moneys derived
from Indian gaming receipts.
Under current law, a pupil who transfers from one school district to another to
reduce racial imbalance under the interdistrict special transfer program (commonly
known as chapter 220) is counted as one pupil for state aid and revenue limit
purposes by the school district in which the pupil resides. A school district that
participates in the intradistrict special transfer program receives additional state
aid.
This bill provides that each interdistrict transfer pupil is counted by the school
district in which he or she resides as one-half pupil for state aid and revenue limit
purposes. The bill also requires MPS to use at least 10% of the intradistrict aid that
it receives in each school year to build or lease neighborhood schools.
Higher education
Current law prohibits the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics
Authority (UWHCA) from issuing bonds or incurring additional indebtedness if the
aggregate amount of the UWHCA outstanding bonds, together with all other
indebtedness of UWHCA, exceeds $50,000,000. This bill increases this amount to
$90,000,000. In addition, the bill prohibits UWHCA from issuing any new bonds for
the purpose of purchasing a clinic or a hospital.
Under current law, DOA administers the college tuition prepayment program,
which allows an individual, a trust or a legal guardian to purchase tuition units from
DOA that may be redeemed in the future to pay tuition at any accredited institution
of higher education in the United States.
This bill transfers administration of the college tuition prepayment program
from DOA to the state treasurer. The bill also makes two modifications to the
program. Under current law, if a contract is terminated, under certain
circumstances DOA may not issue a refund for one year and may not issue a refund
of more than 100 tuition units in any year. This bill eliminates these restrictions and
clarifies that tuition units may be used to pay mandatory student fees.
Under current law, the board of regents of the University of Wisconsin (UW)
System may exempt up to 200 students at the UW-Parkside campus and up to 150
students at the UW-Superior campus from nonresident tuition in programs
identified as having surplus capacity. This tuition award program (TAP) terminates
at the end of the 1998-99 academic year. This bill extends the termination date of
TAP until the end of the 2000-01 academic year.
Under current law, all academic student fees received by the board of regents
of the UW System are credited to an appropriation account that funds degree credit
instruction for the UW System. However, the board may, with some exceptions,
spend only the amounts in the appropriation schedule for degree credit instruction.
This bill, with some exceptions, authorizes the board to spend all academic student
fee revenue it receives for degree credit instruction.
This bill directs the board of regents of the UW System to allocate $1,000,000
from the UW System's general program operations appropriation in each year of the
biennium to advance the work of the UW center for tobacco research and
intervention.
This bill enumerates in the 1999-2001 state building program a full-scale
aquaculture demonstration facility to be built at Ashland and to be operated by the
board of regents of the UW System. Under the bill, $3,000,000 in program revenue
supported borrowing is authorized for the construction of the facility. The program
revenue that will support the borrowing consists of moneys received by the state from
the Indian gaming compacts.
Current law directs the technical college system (TCS) board to administer, or
contract for the administration of, the telecommunications retraining program.
Under the program, which is funded by contributions from telecommunications
companies, certain telecommunications industry workers are eligible to receive
grants for retraining. The program expires at the end of the 1998-99 fiscal year.
This bill extends the expiration date of the program to June 30, 2000, and
requires additional contributions from telecommunications companies if the
telecommunications retraining board determines that additional contributions are
necessary.
This bill directs the TCS board to produce an annual statewide guide containing
information on all of the technical colleges and their programs and to distribute it
to students, parents, high school personnel and others. For this purpose, the bill
authorizes the board to use up to $125,000 of the amount appropriated each fiscal
year as state aid for the technical colleges.
This bill directs the TCS board to award a grant in the 1999-2001 fiscal
biennium to the Waukesha County Technical College for the development of its
printing program.
Other educational and cultural agencies
Under current law, the educational communications board (ECB) is responsible
for overseeing and coordinating the provision of public broadcasting to Wisconsin.
In addition, the board of regents of the UW System, as licensee, must manage,
operate and maintain a radio and television station and provide the ECB part-time
use of equipment and space necessary for the operations of the state educational
radio and television networks.
This bill directs the secretary of administration, the president of the UW
System and one person chosen by the governor to draft and file articles of
incorporation for a nonstock, nonprofit educational broadcasting corporation and to
take all actions necessary to exempt the corporation from taxation under the
Internal Revenue Code. In addition, these persons must prepare and submit to the
joint committee on finance (JCF) for JCF's approval an operational plan for the
corporation that includes a list of those persons employed by the board of regents and
the ECB who are best-suited to provide educational broadcasting services for the
corporation and an estimate of the level of funding necessary to cover the
corporation's annual operating expenses.
The corporation is entitled to receive state aid for initial administrative
expenses if its articles of incorporation state that the purpose of the corporation is
to provide educational broadcasting to this state; the articles of incorporation name
as initial directors the secretary of administration, two representatives to the
assembly, two senators, a member of the board of regents and three individuals
selected by the governor; and the initial board of directors of the corporation submits
an application to the federal communications commission (FCC) to transfer all
broadcasting licenses held by ECB and the board of regents to the corporation.
If the FCC approves the transfer of all broadcasting licenses held by the ECB
and the board of regents to the corporation, the ECB is eliminated on the effective
date of the transfer of the broadcasting licenses. In addition, the corporation is
entitled to receive additional state aid for operational expenses if, among other
things, the board of directors of the corporation offers employment beginning on the
effective date of the transfer of all of the broadcasting licenses to those individuals
designated in the operational plan; the board of directors of the corporation
negotiates with the board of regents and the secretary of administration for the use
of state-owned equipment and space necessary for the operations of educational
radio and television networks; and the secretary of administration approves any
amendment to the corporation's articles of incorporation or bylaws.
This bill requires DOA to prepare a report on the privatization of state-owned
and state-leased communications towers that are used for public broadcasting,
except for the Milwaukee Area Technical College tower. The report must include a
plan for implementing privatization. No later than June 30, 2000, DOA must submit
the report to JCF for its approval.
Under current law, the public service commission (PSC) requires certain
telecommunications providers to make contributions to the universal service fund.
Moneys in the fund must be used for programs administered by the PSC for programs
to promote universal access to telecommunications services and affordable access to
high-quality education, library and health care information services, including a
program for providing institutions with support payments for certain
telecommunications services (institutional assistance program), and for certain
other PSC programs. In addition, the fund is used for certain programs administered
by the TEACH board, including an educational telecommunications access program
for providing data lines and video links to certain educational institutions.
This bill eliminates the requirement for the PSC to use moneys in the fund to
promote affordable access to high-quality education, library and health care
information services. The bill also transfers the institutional assistance program to
the TEACH board, which must provide support payments to eligible institutions as
determined by the PSC. In addition, all of the PSC's duties regarding the educational
telecommunications access program, except the PSC's duties regarding requiring
telecommunications providers to contribute to the fund, are transferred to the
TEACH board.
Under this bill, federated and consolidated public library systems and the
Wisconsin Schools for the Visually Handicapped and the Deaf may also participate
in the educational telecommunications access program. The bill allows any
educational agency that participates in the program to obtain access to more than
one data line if it can show to the satisfaction of the TEACH board that the additional
lines are more cost-effective than a single line. An educational agency that obtains
access to a data line under the program may enter into a shared service agreement
with a city, village, town or county (political subdivision) that provides the political
subdivision with access to any excess bandwidth on the data line that the educational
institution does not use. A political subdivision that obtains access to bandwidth
may not receive compensation for providing access to the bandwidth to any other
person and no moneys from the universal service fund may be used to pay
installation costs that are necessary to provide a political subdivision with access to
the bandwidth. The bill also prohibits an educational agency from requesting access
to an additional data line under the program for the purpose of providing a political
subdivision with access to excess bandwidth and from providing access to a data line
under the program to a private business entity.
Current law directs the TEACH board to award educational technology
training and technical assistance grants, on a competitive basis, to CESAs and to
consortia consisting of two or more school districts or CESAs, or of one or more school
districts or CESAs and one or more public library boards. This bill requires that at
least one of these grants be awarded annually to an applicant located in the territory
of each CESA. The bill also directs the TEACH board, beginning in the 2000-01
fiscal year, to award at least one grant in each fiscal year to an educational
organization or consortium of educational organizations for the development and
implementation of a foreign language instruction program in a public school in
grades kindergarten to six.
Under current law, the Wisconsin Advanced Telecommunications Foundation
provides funding for certain advanced telecommunications technology application
projects and for efforts to educate telecommunications users about advanced
telecommunications services. This bill allows the TEACH board to contract with the
foundation to provide administrative services to the foundation.
Under current law, the educational approval board (EAB), which is attached to
the higher educational aids board (HEAB), approves and supervises education and
training of veterans under certain programs under federal law. EAB also regulates
certain schools, including certain proprietary schools, and the solicitation of
students by such schools.
